Noxon has good individual performances at Ted Kato Tournament
<p>Noxon wrestler Luke Crowe takes on his opponent during the Saturday tournament in Thompson Falls. Crowe came in second place in his class.</p>
NOXON – Three of the four Red Devil wrestlers placed at the Ted Kato tournament on Saturday.
According to Head Coach Ben Ulrick, even some of the placers had lessons to learn.
“John Onofrey got a reality check on Saturday. He got out of position and made a mistake,” Coach Ulrick said. The mistake cost Onofrey the match but he still placed third overall in the 220-pound category.
Onofrey faced off Horseman Brandon Shea and the hope is he will one day come back with a win.
“I’m hoping John will avenge that loss down the road,” Coach Ulrick said.
He was happy the reality check came now instead of down the road during divisionals. He hopes it will motivate Onofrey to continually improve.
Wrestler Luke Crowe also had a good tournament. Wrestling at 152 pounds, he won his semifinal match – a match Coach Ulrick said was a big one.
“He had a good dominant win but in the finals he got beat,” Coach Ulrick said.
The loss isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Now we know where we are at and we know where we have to work for,” he said.
Crowe came in third during the Ted Kato tournament but Coach Ulrick said he probably sits at number two for the division.
Red Devil Alan Chojnacky was the third wrestler to place at the tournament. Chojnacky placed fourth in his 195-pound division.
Coach Ulrick credited the wrestler for improving tremendously.
“He’s on a steady up hill, not a straight up hill but he’s steadily getting better,” Coach Ulrick said. In his last match of the night, Chojnacky wrestled Ethan Goss from Mission-Charlo and saw some improvement from their last encounter.
“They wrestled three weeks ago and Alan had obviously improved since then. He put on a way better performance than last time he wrestled with him,” Coach Ulrick said.
Chance Sawyer was the fourth wrestler at the match but he did not place. He came out with one win and two loses.
For next week, the wrestling team is trying to head to North Idaho to mix up their schedule.
“My team is healthy and they are not beat up so there is no reason to take a weekend off,” Coach Ulrick said.
With finals week underway, the practices will run shorter so the kids can focus on their studies but they’ll continue wrestling. The hope is to run into some new teams at their next meet.
“All the coaches want to diversify. We like each other but our kids wrestling each other every other day doesn’t do anyone any good,” Coach Ulrick explained. “We’re trying to branch out a bit – get a little bit of different competition.”